Dentists should never clean teeth.

If you’re unhappy in dentistry, you should buy a practice.

Those who can’t do, teach.

We dental professionals have some strong opinions, don’t we?

Statements like these create our reality about dentistry and have become a defining part of our dental culture. For decades, we have perpetuated beliefs about the way dentistry SHOULD be– without really questioning other possibilities.

This messaging was passed down to us in school and in practice. Luckily, today more people are speaking up and challenging these long-held beliefs:

• The only way to be successful in dentistry is to own a private practice.
• Dentists are above scraping teeth.
• Dentists are not qualified to clean teeth.
• People teach in dental school because they couldn’t hack it in the real world.

I personally have said some of this too. But that was before I knew the whole story. It was before I invested my whole life in getting here and then realized I didn’t fit into the typical dentist mold. When I had to explore our field more deeply, I saw another truth.

The truth is beliefs like these can be harmful to all of us. Of course it’s disrespectful to belittle the important work that teachers or dental hygienists do.

But just as bad, these thoughts can be more destructive to the person saying them. If you are the dentist who believes you can only be successful owning a practice or you will lose respect if you do hygiene– or if you are the hygienist who thinks dentists are unqualified to do hygiene– that only closes off YOUR world and YOUR possibilities. It only keeps YOU stuck in a box.

Luckily, today we are opening up discussions that challenge our old perceptions.

In my first job, my boss made me do only prophy’s at first. I agreed to it, but it annoyed me. I felt diminished by it, as if I was a peon who wasn’t good enough to do dentistry.

Why did I believe that? Because that’s part of the culture I was taught in dental school.

My friend Paul Goodman of Dental Nachos always instigates great conversations. By asking important questions and sharing different views, Paul shares the belief that we all get to be in dentistry how we want. When we get to hear from others who share the benefits of dentists doing prophy’s, this helps us open up our own possibilities.

Now I look back at my first job and can’t think of a better way to help a fresh new dentist get comfortable with the flow of a busy dental office and more.

But I couldn’t see that then because I only knew what I knew.

I quickly started hating my work, and because I had so many judgments about how a dentist should be, I limited my options. I refused to allow myself to be happy and successful any other way in dentistry. These beliefs I had learned from the dentistry hive mind kept me stuck.

If you think, for example, that teachers only teach because they can’t hack it in the real world, you’ll never allow yourself to consider that career option.

It’s not true! I personally know many dentists who chose to teach because they love it. They are very successful people who didn’t enjoy private practice, so they chose something they love to do.

Let’s change the dialogue.

What if we could start to open our minds that there is no-one-size-fits all approach to success in dentistry?

It’s great that dentists get all the perks of autonomy, respect, and money. But for some, that comes with a huge burden. Overseeing everything that happens in a day can create a massive weight on our shoulders. These dentists love parts of dental life, but the stress of the role as a whole is crushing them.

And that’s okay.

We are all different. One person loves doing extractions, and another loves root canals. Some people thrive on the pressure of a fast-paced schedule, and others want to take it slow. Just like it’s okay for some dentists to never do a cleaning, it’s okay for others to choose to do all their cleanings.

What if we could make it okay for dentists to choose to do only cleanings?

Some of my clients have toyed with the idea of doing hygiene. They enjoy patients and the general scope of dentistry, but the stress of all that comes with being a dentist outweighs the pleasure. They wish they could apply for a job in a practice and be the hygienist. But they’ve stopped themselves before they even started. Their biggest fear was worrying about how others would judge them for choosing to do hygiene instead of general dentistry.

That is the problem with our profession: we are too judgmental.

In our judgment, we dismiss opportunities that might create win-wins for the whole dental community.

I guess it’s always possible a hiring dentist would question why another dentist would want to do hygiene. I’m sure some wouldn’t understand. But what if others did? What if they could empathize with the fact that you want to stay in dentistry, but you want a little less stress? What if they supported your idea and saw the benefits of having a dentist do hygiene? What if they valued having someone who could help diagnose and maybe even do some simple restorative procedures on occasion?

You never know how they will see it. Besides, you only want to work with the ones who seek to understand and empathize with you anyway.

There is nothing wrong with wanting what you want. Ever.

If you like being with patients and creating relationships, hygiene could be the perfect option for you.

Right now we have a serious hygienist shortage in our field. It is hard for practices to find and keep hygienists, and hygienists are looking for other opportunities too.

All I see here is a win-win opportunity for everyone involved.

If dentists can understand we are all unique and have different preferences, and if we can stop judging hygiene work as “less than,” imagine how we could open up new solutions.

If hygienists can also help to appreciate the unique value a dentist can bring to a hygiene visit, we can all work together. We can collaborate without threatening anyone’s livelihood.

If only our community would stop judging everything and everyone else.

Dentists judge their hygienists, hygienists judge dentists. Dentists judge other dentists. Each side is right, and each side has more to learn.

You can choose to stay stuck and follow the “rules,” or you can create your own rules. You might change careers completely or use your education in other ways. The only way we will create sustainable change is if we can be the innovators in our field and create a new hive mind.

Who is with me?